Abstract: Consists primarily of letters received from Herbert Hoover, relating to international mining, World War I Belgian relief,
and American politics.

Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives

Languages:
English

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.

Alternative Forms of Material Available

Several of the letters in this collection are reproduced in the book,
Life and Letters of R.A.F. Penrose, edited by Helen R. Fairbanks and Charles P. Berkey (New York: Geological Society of America, 1952).

The R.A.F. Penrose miscellaneous correspondence consists primarily of letters received from Herbert Hoover, relating to international
mining and World War I Belgian relief, as well as related correspondence from others about Hoover and his activities, such
as Belgian relief and Hoover's campaign for the presidency in 1928.

Hoover's first contact with Penrose appears to have been during his days as a geology student at Stanford University. The
earliest correspondence from Hoover to Penrose in this collection, however, dates from 1897, two years after Hoover's graduation,
when he sought a recommendation letter from Penrose for a job he was applying for: that of a mining engineer with the British
firm of Bewick, Moreing and Company. Hoover's successive appointments with Bewick, Moreing in Western Australia and in China
laid the foundation for his successful career as a mining engineer, and several of his letters to Penrose detail his earliest
activities, plans, and ambitions in these places. In addition, Hoover provided detailed descriptions of mining prospects,
wrote to Penrose seeking recommendations on staff to hire, and on one occasion asked Penrose for information regarding gold
deposits in Colorado, which Penrose had surveyed during the previous decade.

Later correspondence to Penrose, as well as correspondence from others to Penrose, dealt largely with Hoover's activities
as the chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium in World War I. Included is a group of letters between Penrose and
his brother, U.S. Senator Boies Penrose, who was reluctant to lend his support to Hoover's activities.

The collection was acquired in 2004 from Custodians of History, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Sources:
Dictionary of American Biography, 1936; Website, National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, www.mininghalloffame.org/ , accessed May 2011.

Arrangement

The R.A.F. Penrose Miscellaneous correspondence collection is divided into two series: Correspondence, Herbert Hoover to
R.A.F. Penrose; and Other correspondence related to Herbert Hoover. Both series are arranged chronologically.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.